Sometimes you can compile a new version without using the PPAs for the source dependencies, and use the great build-dep feature in Ubuntu. Make sure you have the source packages selected and have this line in your sources.list file:

I have successfully compiled Stellarium 0.11.3, Scummvm 1.5.0, and others by obtaining the dependencies with build-dep; for example:

sudo apt-get build-dep scummvm

For packages already in the repositories, you can check dependencies with:

apt-cache show foxtrotgps

and compare that with the dependencies required for the newer version, which will be listed on the program's website, or in a readme with the source code download.

Usually when obtaining the dependencies via the build-dep method you must then download the stable source code from the site of the program, and not the development or git version. It will not always be possible to compile a new version in this way, but it is worth trying. (Gimp 2.8, for example, requires a later version of Gtk and that can't be met by using the source files for Precise.)

However, I have used the build-dep method successfully for Foxtrotgps; simply follow these steps (assuming you have installed build-essential):

Download the most recent stable source code (version 1.1.1 at the moment) from the Foxtrot site

Open the terminal and enter sudo apt-get build-dep foxtrotgps

Uncompress the downloaded source code with tar xzvf <file> and cd to the foxtrot folder. Then run the following three commands:

./configure

make

sudo checkinstall (install checkinstall if you don't have it, or use sudo make install)